Disclaimer: Piss off…I still don't own Harry Potter.

Author: I told you I would be back with the next chapter.

Dudley: Do you think you can garner up some sympathy for me here? Surely I can't be a total arse. I mean, come on!

Author: We'll see.

Dudley: What do you mean "We'll see," you non-committal slag!

Author: smites Dudley Thanks to my lovely roomies and their awesome Betaness. I love you both! Hugs 'n' fuzzlez! I also want to thank CaptainCheese for giving me the kick in the are I needed to finish this chapter, lol. Enjoy!

Chapter 2 – Dudley's Worst Memory

Harry awoke with a start. He opened his eyes to see that Hedwig had just landed on his chest with a decent sized package for him. As he opened it a box of cookies from Mrs. Weasley came tumbling out, along with a couple of letters.

Mentally blessing Mrs. Weasley, Harry munched on a cookie as he read his first letter.

Harry,

Glad to hear you're not doing too badly at the Dursleys. What did they want when they invited you to lunch? Hermione and I wish you were here. Fleur and Bill are getting married in two weeks. Knowing Fleur, I'm sure it will be a huge event. Great news though! Mum says you can come to the Burrow whenever you're ready. I know you have to stay at the Dursleys because of your protection thing, but maybe next weekend? Write me back and let me know!

Ron

Harry grinned at his friend's messy scrawl. Picking up the next letter, Harry started to read again after popping another cookie into his mouth.

Harry,

If I have to hear another peep out of Phlegm about 'ze beeg day' I am going to break her kneecaps! How have you been holding up with everything that's happened? There's been no word of Snape or Malfoy at all. The Order just isn't the same without Dumbledore. They are all confused. Fred, George and I have been eavesdropping and from what we've heard, Inferi attacks are becoming more and more common. Plus there's been a lot of Giant activity as well. On the plus side, the Dementors have been oddly quiet. I'm sure you noticed that the fog has disappeared. There's something unsettling about it though. Anyways, I miss you. I am trying to be supportive of what you're going through and of what you need to do, but I miss having you as my boyfriend. I can't wait to see you again. Do you reckon that they will open Hogwarts this year?

Love,

Ginny

Harry sighed as he put this letter down. He missed Ginny too, but he was afraid for her safety. Voldemort would stop at nothing to make his life hell and Harry knew it. Once again, because of Harry and the Order of the Phoenix, Voldemort's plan had failed. However, the Dark Lord had gotten his way. Albus Dumbledore was dead and he was the only wizard Voldemort had ever feared.

Harry couldn't help obsessing over what his arch-enemy had planned this year and picked up his letter from Hermione.

Dear Harry,

How are you holding up over there? I miss you! I read this book on death and how to cope with it. It was very helpful to me and I think you should read it when you arrive at the Burrow. You were closer to Dumbledore than both Ron and I, so you must be a basket case even if you won't admit it. Fleur is driving everyone nuts with her wedding planning. You'd swear it was the event of the century. At least she isn't as bad as she was last summer. Bill seems to be getting on quite well with his injuries, even if he does have a particular taste for rare meat during the full moon. And he always complains about how often he has to shave, the poor bloke. At least he has Lupin to talk to. We have something special planned for your birthday so you'd better be here for that!

Love,

Hermione

Harry smiled to himself. Hermione always had a book for an answer. He still hadn't come to a decision regarding whether he wanted to return to Hogwarts or not. Harry decided that he would go to the Burrow this coming Sunday. He would stay until the first of August then he would go to Godric's Hollow, where his parents were murdered. Harry decided to go by himself and he knew he'd miss his friends when he was gone.

Forty-five minutes later, Harry had finished writing all of his responses to his letters. He left his room for a moment to use the loo when he thought he heard someone sobbing. It stopped suddenly and Harry just shrugged it off and proceeded with his purpose. After he came out, Harry walked back to his room. He was just about to his door and then he heard the sobbing again. What in the name of Merlin? Harry thought to himself.

He followed the sound to the door next to his. Dudley? Harry wondered. What could his spoiled, arrogant bully of a cousin be crying for? Did Petunia say he had to diet for an extra week or something?

Harry thought about just walking away and forgetting his cousin's outburst. It would serve them right. What would the Dursleys do if they saw Harry crying? At best, they'd ignore him and walk away. At worst? They'd have hit him and locked him in his cupboard. I guess that's the difference between us. I'm not like that, Harry thought bitterly.

He reluctantly opened Dudley's door. Harry was amazed at how many possessions his cousin had. He saw at least three computers, two televisions and countless unnameable pieces of his cousin's things littered the floor.

"Dudley, are you alright?" Harry asked tentatively, looking at his cousin who was curled up like a ball on his king sized bed.

"H-Harry, what are you doing in my room?" Dudley choked out between sobs. "Get out!"

"I heard you crying and I was wondering if I could help you," Harry said as he felt his temper start to boil again.

Dudley looked at Harry for a moment as if to consider his request. A mixture of emotions played on his cousin's podgy face. Anxiety, embarrassment, sadness and some anger were all there. Uncertainty was the winning expression, however. After all, this was Harry Potter and he was the relative Dudley always hated. Why should Dudley tell him anything?

"Does this have anything to do with the Dementors we talked about earlier?" Harry asked, knowing he had to tread carefully on this subject.

After all, Harry knew that at any moment Dudley could yell for his parents and Harry would never hear the end of it. He'd be punished for sure. Harry didn't care anymore though. After all, he could leave at any time and never return. He would be of age in three weeks time.

"I don't want to talk about it, Harry," Dudley said in a tone as if he was talking to a five year old.

The effect of his chubby cousin talking like this with tears rolling down his red cheeks was hilarious. However, Harry didn't laugh and decided to make one more try for it.

"I know it's hard, but I know what it's like, you know. I know how it feels to have your worst memories flung back at you like it's nothing," Harry cajoled, after all, he was actually quite curious to know what his spoiled cousin's worst memory was.

"R-really?" Dudley looked almost hopeful and this made Harry consider the fact that even his cousin might not have anyone to really talk to.

After all, he had Ron and Hermione. Did Dudley have any real friends? The people in Dudley's gang were morons and of course his cousin would have to act tough in front of them. Somehow, Harry doubted that Dudley could talk to Piers Polkiss about feelings. Harry then realised that Dudley might not be as well-off as he thought.

"Yes, really," Harry confided.

"What do you see when those Dementoids come?" Dudley asked warily.

"I see my parents being murdered, as well as Cedric, my Godfather and my Headmaster. He was killed about 3 weeks ago," Harry said matter-of-factly.

Dudley looked shocked.

"They were all killed by Voldemort?" Dudley breathed and looked as close to sympathetic as Harry had ever seen him look.

"Yes, Dudley," Harry explained as Dudley's face fell.

"What an evil bastard…" Dudley growled.

Harry almost smiled. Dudley suddenly looked resigned and sat up straight. Harry was relieved to see that Dudley had stopped crying.

"Sit down if you want to Harry," Dudley invited.

Harry sat down on Dudley's computer chair and remarked on how comfortable it was. Dudley smiled and then took a deep breath.

"Alright, Harry. I will tell you what I saw. And you need to promise me that you won't tell anyone what I tell you tonight," Dudley said in a more coherent, intelligent voice than Harry had ever heard him use.

If fact, there was an unfamiliar sharp edge to Dudley's voice that almost frightened Harry. Who was this boy and what had he done with his stupid cousin?

"Of course. The secret's safe with me," Harry promised.

"Alright then," Dudley nodded and began his story, "You don't know this, but I don't go to Smeltings anymore…"

----------

Afifteen year old Dudley Dursley walked up the front steps of Smeltings School for Boys. At the last step below the landing of the grand entrance, he tripped and fell unceremoniously to the ground. Dudley picked himself up and looked around to see some of the crowd around him pointing and laughing at him. He looked at the ground in shame and walked inside the huge building.

Dudley went to the office of the Headmaster and registered himself for classes. He hated this school because even after completing four years at Smeltings, he still hadn't made any friends. He turned around to leave the office when he ran into the biggest pair of blue eyes he'd ever seen. He looked at the girl he had run into up and down to discover that she was beautiful. Her long hair resembled spun gold and her skin reminded him of fresh cream. Her full strawberry lips were turned up into a smile.

"Oh, I'm sorry," the girl smiled apologetically, "I am just running into everyone today!"

"Quite all right," Dudley said, "I am Dudley Dursley. What's your name?"

"Elisha Phlair. Nice to meet you," she said with a smile and held out her hand, which Dudley accepted.

"Thank you. I'm just registering for classes. I'm a fifth year student," Dudley explained.

"I'm a new transfer student, and I can't wait to begin," Elisha gushed, "I have a confession to make. I am a bit of a bookworm."

"Wait a minute," Dudley inquired, "Isn't Smeltings just for boys?"

"Oh, yes," Elisha laughed, "But I go to your sister school, Rosewood. It's a lot smaller than Smeltings, so all us girls come to Smeltings to register."

"That's news to me," Dudley mumbled.

"Smeltings and Rosewood became closely affiliated starting this year and we will even have some of the same classes together, I'm sure," Elisha explained.

Dudley was shocked to discover that he couldn't take his eyes off of this new girl. His mind went blissfully blank for a moment and he couldn't think straight.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?" Dudley asked thickly.

"I said I have to be going now, I need to go to my dorm and unpack all of my things," Elisha said.

Dudley noticed that she looked embarrassingly amused. Elisha had a twinkle in her eyes and a small grin on her lips.

"Oh, right," Dudley said and waved as Elisha walked away.

A few weeks later, Dudley Dursley still couldn't get the girl from registration out of his head. He dreamed about her and couldn't concentrate in the classes he had with her. It was odd, however. She hadn't spoken to him since the day they met and Dudley still hadn't made any friends this year. None of the boys at this school were intimidated by a huge bully like they were in elementary school. He'd tried whacking people with his Smeltings stick, but to no avail. Dudley was always being made fun of.

At mealtimes, he was always being jeered at with cruel remarks like "Hey, leave some for everyone else, you wanker!"

One day when he was sitting down to lunch by himself, Elisha came up and sat with him.

"Hi, Dudley," She smiled at him.

"Hi, yourself," Dudley grinned back as tucked into his roast beef sandwich.

Elisha gave a small smirk as she ate her sandwich. Dudley noticed that she had an apple, too.

"What's new? I haven't spoken to you since registration," Dudley inquired, trying to make his question seem as offhand as possible.

"Oh, I have just been busy trying to fit in at Rosewood. They're a rather tough crowd to… never mind," Elisha said with a faltering smile.

Dudley saw that she looked as if she'd said something terrible.

Dudley gave her a curious gaze, "What do you mean?"

"It's nothing, really. You know how hard it is to fit in at a new school," Elisha said with a cynical smirk.

"Yeah, trust me, I know," Dudley said bitterly.

Elisha had a sad look on her face.

"Dudley, I wanted to know if you'd like to go out with me sometime," Elisha asked suddenly.

Dudley was caught speechless for a moment. "Sorry?"

"Would you like to go out with me sometime?" the blonde girl repeated with a grin.

"Err, yes, of course I would," Dudley said in a shocked tone, "Are you serious?"

"Absolutely. You seem to be one of the few friendly faces here," Elisha explained, "All of the other boys here seem like royal horse's arses."

Dudley laughed as he tried to cover his surprise.

"Alight, Elisha. How does Friday night at eight sound?"

Elisha gave a weak smile and closed her eyes as if she was doing something horrible. "That sounds great."

"Ok, well I am going to take you to The Dining Room on Queen's Road. I hope you have a good appetite, you'll need it!" Dudley exclaimed, ignoring that look on her face.

Elisha laughed and nodded her approval. She then left for her next class.

Two weeks later, Dudley and Elisha's romance was the talk of the school. How could a swine like Dudley snag a beautiful girl like that, all of the other boys in school wondered. True, Dudley often wondered this himself, but he was too caught up in his romance to really care. He was in love and nobody could make him unhappy.

The two lovebirds went to fancy restaurants and to movies. They went on walks and they also went to amusement parks. They had wonderful times, but Dudley had the feeling something was very wrong with Elisha, as if she was hiding something. He'd occasionally ask her and mean to force her into an answer, but then she'd kiss him and change the subject.

He should have asked her more. He should have choked it out of her…

One night, after a particularly romantic date, Dudley and Elisha found themselves back in his dormitory. His father was able to afford Dudley a private room, he had no roommates. They walked into his bedroom without noticing anything around them.

"Did you enjoy yourself tonight, love?" Dudley asked her as he gazed at her lovingly.

"Oh, Dudley this was a wonderful date," Elisha said with a dreamy grin.

Within seconds Dudley was kissing Elisha with fevered intensity and brought on hand up to her hip. He continued to deepen his kiss as she started to remove his pants. They had never had sex before and Dudley was still a virgin. Needless to say, he was anxious but eager too. Elisha had all of Dudley's clothes off when all of a sudden Dudley's closet door opened. Cameras were flashing all over the room, blinding Dudley.

"What the hell is this?" Dudley shrieked in terror.

Elisha was on the bed sobbing as a group of people in black hoods and clothes walked up to him and started pummelling his body with their fists. His first instinct was to protect her from these thugs, so he fought back the best he could. Just as he placed a solid kick into a thigh, Dudley screamed in pain as one of their fists hit him in the eye. Within seconds, the group had Dudley on his stomach hog-tied and gagged. He watched in horror as one of the figures walked up to Elisha and said these words that would be forever etched in his brain.

"Nice going Elisha," the airy voice of a girl spoke as she handed the sobbing Elisha a twenty pound note. "You're one of us now."

The look on Dudley's face was one of disbelief and horror as he came to one irrefutable conclusion. She'd set this up! That disgusting blonde haired broken looking witch caused this, he screamed inside his brain as he glared at her. He couldn't even have the satisfaction of pounding the living daylights out of something or screaming for help. He was totally defenceless and all he could do was let them take pictures of his naked body.

Once they took all of his money out of his overcoat and searched the room for more, they left. Dudley gazed at Elisha who was still crying softly beside him. He glared at her as she stood up.

"Oh Dudley, I am so sorry," Elisha choked as she began to untie him. "I had no choice!"

Dudley would have screamed at her, but he was still gagged. She began to work on his hands.

"They were blackmailing me. I told you they were a tough crowd here. They kept ostracizing me and I was desperate to fit in. Can you understand that?" Elisha asked beseechingly.

Now that she'd removed the gag, Dudley could talk. He gave Elisha a withering glower.

"I don't give a damn about your excuses, Elisha," Dudley bellowed as Elisha looked terrified. "I hate you now as much as I thought I loved you before, you conniving little slag! I want you to get the hell out of my room and I never want to see your horrid face again!

She stood up, grabbed her things and ran out of the room. Dudley collapsed on his bed and fell into oblivion.

------------------

"I immediately transferred away from Smeltings and I found out a month later that Elisha attempted to commit suicide," Dudley said bitterly. "Too bad she didn't succeed."

Harry Potter was rendered speechless by his cousin's story. He didn't know that his spoiled cousin had been through anything bad, much less something like this.

"Dudley, I…." Harry began.

"Harry, don't go feeling sorry for me," Dudley interrupted. "I won't have it. It's my fault for not being smarter."

"How is that your fault," Harry asked with conviction, "You had no way of knowing she'd do something like that!"

"I didn't read the signs and demand an answer when I knew I should have," Dudley asserted. "I was too self-absorbed to see what was right in front of me."

Harry nodded to indicate that he understood.

"So I have been studying and reading everything I could get my hands on to make myself smarter, more aware of the world," Dudley said with a strange glint in his eye. "I promised myself never to be so thick again."

"That's awful," Harry murmured to himself.

In spite of his cousin's wish, Harry did feel desperately sorry for him. What a horrible thing to happen, even to Dudley, he thought to himself. Harry reckoned it might have been a good thing in one respect because his cousin wasn't so sheltered now and knew how ugly things could be.

As if he could read his thoughts, Dudley glared at Harry.

"You're doing it," Dudley growled. "I can see it in your face."

"I'm sorry," Harry said sarcastically as he glared back at his cousin.

Suddenly, they both burst out laughing. They began to really talk about their lives and everything that Harry had went through. They actually began to like each other now that Dudley was more humble and Harry didn't hate him. Dudley turned out to be more intelligent than Harry ever knew and Dudley found himself enthralled with Harry's magical world.

Harry went back into his room hours after he left it. They had parted with a promise that Harry would bring Dudley to see Diagon Alley when the war was over. Obviously it was too unsafe to bring Muggles there now. He felt much more light-hearted now that he and his only cousin were friends. Could I actually have a decent relationship with my family? Harry asked himself as he began reading Quidditch Though the Ages once again.

Well, I hope you enjoyed that! Stay tuned for Chapter 3 - The Burrow, Again